Blame you, indeed! That would be presumption in me.' 'I think I shall set up a confessor! and it shan't be you, Clare, for you have always been only too indulgent to me.' After a pause she said, - 'Can you give me some lunch, Clare? I don't mean to go home till three.My "business" will take me till then, as the people at the Towers are duly informed.' 'Certainly.I shall be delighted! but you know we are very simple in our habits.' 'Oh, I only want a little bread and butter, and perhaps a slice of cold meat - you must not give yourself any trouble, Clare - perhaps you dine now? let me sit down just like one of your family.' 'Yes, you shall; I won't make any alteration; - it will be so pleasant to have you sharing our family meal, dear Lady Harriet.But we dine late, we only lunch now.How low the fire is getting; I really am forgetting everything in the pleasure of this tête-à-tête!' So she rang twice; with great distinctness, and with a long pause between the rings.Maria brought in coals.But the signal was as well understood by Cynthia as the 'Hall of Apollo'
was by the servants of Lucullus.The brace of partridges that were to have been for the late dinner were instantly put down to the fire; and the prettiest china put out, and the table decked with flowers and fruit, arranged with all Cynthia's usual dexterity and taste.So that when the meal was announced, and Lady Harriet entered the room, she could not but think her hostess's apologies had been quite unnecessary; and be more and more convinced that Clare had done very well for herself.Cynthia now joined the party, pretty and elegant as she always was; but somehow she did not take Lady Harriet's fancy; she only noticed her on account of her being her mother's daughter.
Her presence made the conversation more general, and Lady Harriet gave out several pieces of news, none of them of any great importance to her, but as what had been talked about by the circle of visitors assembled at the Towers.'Lord Hollingford ought to have been with us,' she said, amongst other things; 'but he is obliged, or fancies himself obliged, which is all the same thing, to stay in town about this Crichton legacy!' 'A legacy? To Lord Hollingford? I am so glad!' 'Don't be in a hurry to be glad! It's nothing for him but trouble.Did not you hear of that rich eccentric Mr Crichton, who died some time ago, and - fired by the example of Lord Bridgewater, I suppose - left a sum of money in the hands of trustees, of whom my brother is one, to send out a man with a thousand fine qualifications, to make a scientific voyage, with a view to bringing back specimens of the fauna of distant lands, and so forming the nucleus of a museum which is to be called the Crichton Museum, and so perpetuate the founder's name.Such various forms does man's vanity take! Sometimes it stimulates philanthropy; sometimes a love of science!' 'It seems to me a very laudable and useful object, I am sure,' said Mrs Gibson, safely.'I daresay it is, taking it from the public-good view.But it is rather tiresome to us privately, for it keeps Hollingford in town - or between it and Cambridge - and each place as dull and empty as can be, just when we want him down at the Towers.The thing ought to have been decided long ago, and there's some danger of the legacy lapsing.The two other trustees have run away to the Continent, feeling, as they say, the utmost confidence in him, but in reality shirking their responsibilities.However, I believe he likes it, so I ought not to grumble.He thinks he is going to be very successful in the choice of his man - and he belongs to this county, too, - young Hamley of Hamley, if he can only get his college to let him go, for he's a Fellow of Trinity, Senior Wrangler or something; and they're not so foolish as to send their crack man to be eaten up by lions and tigers!' 'It must be Roger Hamley!' exclaimed Cynthia, her eyes brightening, and her cheeks flushing.'He's not the eldest son; he can scarcely be called Hamley of Hamley!'